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A review by kevin_shepherd
Speak of the Devil: How the Satanic Temple Is Changing the Way We Talk about Religion by Joseph P. Laycock
5.0
“You can rail against Satanism all you want, but the legislative process should not be used for religious grandstanding and virtue signaling. It is not the place of government to favor some religions over others in the public square.” -Alison Gill
Organized Satanism became a fixture in the American public consciousness in 1966 when The Church of Satan (COS) was founded by Anton Szandor LaVey in San Francisco. Since that time COS has inspired numerous imitations and spinoff congregations, some affiliated with COS and others not. One of the most important unaffiliated incarnations is The Satanic Temple (TST), founded in 2013 and currently headquartered in Salem Massachusetts. It is TST that is the primary focus of this book.
The Satanic Temple represents different things to different people. To some it is a non-theistic religious organization, to others it represents a new religious movement. Still others view it from a purely legal and political perspective, sometimes calling it a “Goth ACLU.” This raises the question, is TST a legitimate religion or is it a convenient vehicle for upsetting Catholics, Protestants and alt-right political conservatives?
Exposing the Double Standard
America has a de facto two tiered system of religious freedom consisting of an upper tier for Christianity and a lower tier for just about everybody else. At no time is the Christian bias more apparent than when TST lays claim to “religious freedom” in the public forum.
Evil as Discourse
The prevailing perception in America is that Satanism is inherently and boundlessly evil. While arguments can be made that most of those perceptions come from sources outside the Christian bible (e.g. Rosemary’s Baby, Ira Levin, 1967), it is the perceived evil that makes TST an effective litmus test for the freedom of expression and the freedom of religion.
The Devil is in the Details
Ultimately Satanism challenges the sincerity of people who claim to be tolerant. It does so by three primary types of social action:
Culture Jamming - guerrilla theater designed to reframe cultural debates by shocking and unsettling audiences.
Poison Pill - claiming equal privileges for Satanists as those afforded Christians, knowing full well that this will be deemed intolerable and thus forcing a return to church/state separation.
The Bake Sale Approach - serving the local community through kindness and philanthropy, thereby raising TST’s public profile and disrupting Christian paradigms of moral order.
Joseph Laycock’s ethnography of The Satanic Temple was an unexpectedly excellent read. It begs the question of whether the term “benevolent Satanist” is a paradox and it opened this atheist’s eyes to the concept of evil as a discourse for socio-political change.
Organized Satanism became a fixture in the American public consciousness in 1966 when The Church of Satan (COS) was founded by Anton Szandor LaVey in San Francisco. Since that time COS has inspired numerous imitations and spinoff congregations, some affiliated with COS and others not. One of the most important unaffiliated incarnations is The Satanic Temple (TST), founded in 2013 and currently headquartered in Salem Massachusetts. It is TST that is the primary focus of this book.
The Satanic Temple represents different things to different people. To some it is a non-theistic religious organization, to others it represents a new religious movement. Still others view it from a purely legal and political perspective, sometimes calling it a “Goth ACLU.” This raises the question, is TST a legitimate religion or is it a convenient vehicle for upsetting Catholics, Protestants and alt-right political conservatives?
Exposing the Double Standard
America has a de facto two tiered system of religious freedom consisting of an upper tier for Christianity and a lower tier for just about everybody else. At no time is the Christian bias more apparent than when TST lays claim to “religious freedom” in the public forum.
Evil as Discourse
The prevailing perception in America is that Satanism is inherently and boundlessly evil. While arguments can be made that most of those perceptions come from sources outside the Christian bible (e.g. Rosemary’s Baby, Ira Levin, 1967), it is the perceived evil that makes TST an effective litmus test for the freedom of expression and the freedom of religion.
The Devil is in the Details
Ultimately Satanism challenges the sincerity of people who claim to be tolerant. It does so by three primary types of social action:
Culture Jamming - guerrilla theater designed to reframe cultural debates by shocking and unsettling audiences.
Poison Pill - claiming equal privileges for Satanists as those afforded Christians, knowing full well that this will be deemed intolerable and thus forcing a return to church/state separation.
The Bake Sale Approach - serving the local community through kindness and philanthropy, thereby raising TST’s public profile and disrupting Christian paradigms of moral order.
Joseph Laycock’s ethnography of The Satanic Temple was an unexpectedly excellent read. It begs the question of whether the term “benevolent Satanist” is a paradox and it opened this atheist’s eyes to the concept of evil as a discourse for socio-political change.